A Film & Video Production Company

Before saying much, I'm going to invite you to watch this commercial advertisement recently released by AXE Body Spray's parent company, Unilever. This will give you the required context on-which the rest of this piece is predicated...

Now, before we get so joyful and virtuous about our recognition of prejudice and bullying--let's point out some basic flaws in the approach.

The most obvious flaw to me is opening line--"72% of guys have been told how a real man should behave" It is fatally flawed in that 100% of everyone from any group has been told how to be anything they have attempted to be. The idea that your intrinsic knowledge is what makes you who you are is a willful ignorance of social interaction and progress. We are told (we read, we learn, we ask, etc.) how the model of something is defined, and it is up to the individual whether to thrive within that model, or attempt to deviate at their own benefit or peril.

The next bit I take issue with is much more than just this frame, but it does do a good job of summing it up...

This image is accompanied by the line "to experiment with other guys". This image, to me, shows a young man guiding me into a sketchy, dimly lit abandoned corridor--not the ideal place for a romantic encounter. While I appreciate this and all sentiments expressed in this spot as generic statements, all (arguably) of the accompanying imagery is such a sad visual interpretation of it. Almost as if they thought nothing of it at all. And if they did--this ad may be about more than just dismantling stereotypes...

Anyway, aside from all of my nitpicking, ads like this serve one purpose--to sell you cans of stink-mist. And with that being the underlying motive, I can't help but feel that this will only achieve a fatigue for the discussion and the concepts with no real gain but some Unilever profits.

The idea that this spot presents is that men are insecure and searching for recognition of their desires or behaviors from a source of some consensus as evident by their search topics in a search engine. A search engine, by nature, uses your keywords to find the most COMMON AND RELEVANT answers to your question. Now, if you are suggesting that real men are self-defined and that their lifestyles and choices are theirs to judge--does that not run contrary to the idea that they would seek a consensus guidance from a broad source like google? Seems like you're trying to take the position of not taking a position, and confusing your interest in an easy to swallow acceptance narrative. Gross. Or maybe you're just saying that men are obviously insecure, but they should find strength...find their magic...find some AXE body spray! Gross.

I haven't forgotten the several beatings I endured in my formative years, where-in my assailants were always laced with the unpleasant odor of CK-One. Point is--the bully's are far more likely to be the type of insecure individuals that coat themselves with this kind of garbage. This is an olive branch extended by nobody, to nobody. AXE, like its campaign, is mostly air with the only substance being an assault on the senses--which dulls those senses to the users peril.

I made this quick video to remind producers of what to look for, and what to remember when scouting or tech-scouting locations for a video or film production. This is by no means comprehensive, but I think it is a great watch prior to setting out for a scout a a refresher.

A brief guide of what to look for when selecting a location for your film or video production.

I'll, probably, go way further into the specifics of this down the road. Probably. But, for today, this is a high-level summary of do's and don'ts when approaching a production that is underfunded. You're not a low-budget project, you're producing an over-promised creative given the budget you have to work with. Notice the difference.

FINDING MONEY

First question--do you have needs for specialty equipment, mounds of extras, special props or set building? Now, take your greatest weakness (a big art need, with no art money) and find a way to make it a positive. How? Well, it depends on your situation, but here are a few, probably useless, examples:

1. Creative calls for a weird location. You need to build it. Or maybe, you need to find the best/weirdest/oldest/most salty location scout out there to crack the door on a place that's 99% what you need. Then, Art monies become location monies, and I'm sure you can negotiate out some leftovers to spread around.

2. Use your director. Get your director drunk on booze, or their own creativity and get the seed planted that we can/could/should talk about tweaking things a bit. Maybe a more vacuous space would keep focus on the principals struggle. Maybe a vacuous space just means a big empty room. Cha-ching!!!

3. Use your cunning, people skills and rapier wit to dupe your colleagues into making decisions that positively impact your budget. Don't be passive. If you just sit around waiting for your director to talk, she or he will run your face into the ground (metaphorically, and possibly physically).

CUTTING RATES

No. Just give them what's in the budget. Nobody will ever fault you for that.

FEED THE CREW TACO BELL

Don't. Not only will they hate you, but they'll be sluggish and testy for the rest of the day due to malnourishment. Not the place to save...

STAY ON-TIME

The biggest threat to your budget isn't adding a lens, or a crane, or 668ft of unexplainable circle track...it's time. Time is what will F#%k your budget. If you start getting behind, the AD starts pushing (that's his job), so do you, so do all the keys, so does the Director--and THIS, this is when we go into overtime or worse...people get hurt. An injury on-set will piss off your EP/Head of Production/whoever you care about impressing more than anything. And that safety (or lack of) falls to the AD, but ultimately, to you who orchestrated it all.

So, here's my advice. Be damn smart. Smart as hell. Make smart deals with vendors, locations and fabricators. Once you're done with that--get cozy with the best damn AD you can find, and get on the same page. If you-two are connected, the train will depart and arrive as scheduled, and the biggest of all budget blunders (accidents and overtime) will escape you.

"Ideas are cheap. Implementation is the hard part." I find this especially true when it comes to developing concepts for brands. The idea, the backdrop, the premise--these are starting points that will grow and mature beautifully like an orchid, or live a short and unremarkable existence--like a mayfly. In either case, the future of your concept is decided by its ability to work within the rules of the brand.

Before getting too far, I recommend you develop a simple scoring system (everyone on the team should keep their own score for each). I like a simple 1-5 for each category.

1. You've probably set some ground rules for this production: budget, goals, etc.. These are super-important. Important enough that if you put them aside for a minute, they won't go far. You are already evaluating these video concepts based on the bulky parameter of connecting with you--save the rest for now. Not to say that this stage should lead to you throwing away good concepts just because they don't connect with you in the moment--but allow yourself a blank slate on-which to gain a first impression, as an audience member. This is your only chance to objectively (as possible) react to a concept--don't take it for granted.

2. Does it achieve or at least approach your marketing goals for the video content? This is certainly workable once you get into award and development, but it's good if they've at least considered them at this stage.

3. Does it fit with your overall brand? Maybe this is a new play for a new audience. If so, we want to know how it fits with the brand overall. Are there any potential threats to other audiences?

4. How much of a risk is this creative? This sounds like a lower score is better--but it's not, necessarily. Anyone who has produced or supervised any video content production has learned that risk is important in many circumstances. However, every single risk has to be intentional, calculated and watched every step of the way. We are not reckless, we are daring.

5. Do the resources required fall in-line with our budget? Producing video content doesn't have to be expensive, strenuous and time-consuming. Your creative has 100% control of what resources it will take to produce this content. Don't have the resources for this brilliant concept? That's ok--let's re-write to remove any non-essential components and get to your budget. Still not there? Now, we might need a new concept.

Whatever you are trying to achieve with your video content, there are endless ways to get there. Get a lot of opinions, do a lot of research into similar content, and go into the process as informed as possible.

This depends a lot on how your RFP approached the project. If you gave opportunity, latitude or even a specific request for creative to be pitched, you will need to sharpen your pencil for this one. But, for the sake of efficiency, let's start by assuming that all creative is equal, and you are only comparing bids on the basis of cost.

Let's say you have 5 options. First go through, and mark each proposal with a number. Henceforth, refer to them by number instead of name to expedite notes and reference. This also helps to safeguard against a witty production company name winning favor on style over merit by sheer repetition.

FIRST: THE BOTTOM LINE (total cost of each bid). This is a poor factor to compare, as all bids offer different things, but since your going to do it anyway, we might as well account for it.

SECOND: THE PRODUCTION. What are you being billed for? "Is there money in this bid for Art department to build that custom set-piece? Oooo--this bid doesn't even have money in Art Department...red flag." You can learn a lot about how thoughtful, creative and informed a production company is by how they bid a project. You also can neutralize a lot of the difference between various bottom lines by understanding who really bid the project right.

THIRD: PRODUCTION AND INSURANCE FEES. Typically, insurance is charged at a rate of 3-5% of the production budget. Some clients carry their own production insurance, which would benefit you to use and lose this cost. Production fees range from 0-35% depending on the project needs, timeline, overall budget and other lessor factors. This percentage can be negotiated. However, remember that the production fee is the clear profit for the production company. If this amount is shaved too thin, there may be little incentive for the production company to prioritize your project. That said, if the creative is something the production company seems very excited about, they may be more willing to shave their fees to get the opportunity to shoot this project. It is a bit of "cat and mouse", but needs to be done.

FOURTH: TALENT. Is their 5 extras on this bid, and 25 on another? Which is more appropriate? Is their enough in this bid for a really good hero talent? Are all roles accounted for properly? Have agency fees been factored in? You can always opt to pay talent direct to guarantee efficiency in these areas. This has certain costs and benefits which we will not go deep into here.

FIFTH: POST PRODUCTION. Is post-production included in the bid? If not, does the creative director, director or production company have an editor or post house they like or work with for this type of project? It is important to get a firm handle on post costs prior to committing to a production company's bid.